St Lucia’s dynamic duo did it again. They surpassed their performance last year by placing first and second in the 2009 OECS Half Marathon on Sunday in St Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG).
Olympian and undoubtedly one of the region’s top long distance runners Zepherinus “Knockay” Joseph of Mon Repos won the event. It was his sixth OECS title and fifth in a row. Compatriot Victor “Victorious” Ledgers who finished third last year placed second this time around. He was followed by Curtis Cox (Trinidad & Tobago) with Pamenos Ballantyne of SVG (fourth).
In an exclusive interview on Tuesday in his home town on the Street named in his honour (Knockay Avenue), Joseph said: “I was not really looking for a fast race or time but went to St Vincent just to win.”
In discussing his pre race strategy with Ledgers, Joseph told me we planned to just sit back and watch the race unfold. That didn’t happen.
“Given the fact there were so many hills and each time I climbed one and took off, I began opening a gap,” said Joseph. “After awhile I decided to continue running. Victor stayed behind.”
In staying behind, Ledgers played the part of sacrificial lamb, keeping the other runners at bay while his teammate literally ran away with the race.
You would think after winning with relative ease, his preparation and training would have been superb. That was not the case. Joseph confessed “this year was one of his worst when it came to training.”
Frustration set in when Joseph began training for two competitions he never competed in—Caribbean Games which was postponed and the CARICOM 10k in Guyana which he was unable to travel to.
“After doing all that preparation and not competing that just blew me away,” said Joseph. “I would go out and run three days a week and next four days I would not do anything. In the past I would do 90 miles a week but this time around it was about 50.”
Joseph couldn’t help but give Victor Ledgers a great deal of credit for his showing in the OECS Half Marathon and his glorious history in long distance running.
“I really like running with Victor, we make a good team,” said Joseph. “He has been in the sport for the longest time and St Lucia needs to recognize him for his achievements.”
For his part, Ledgers was the consummate teammate. He harboured no ill feelings being the sacrificial lamb and was once again being runner-up to Joseph.
“We went out there with a plan,” said Ledgers. “When he [Joseph] went ahead I stayed back and held off the leading pack. In between he [Joseph] was always turning back looking for us and that’s when I had to tell him go and do his do, don’t worry I will come up.”
That’s exactly what Ledgers did. During the last six miles, the unselfish runner left sentimental favourite Ballantyne and Cox behind and pursued Joseph.
Ledgers did close the gap but in the end the lead was too much to overcome. That’s when he decided to maintain his pace and in settle in for second place.
Commenting on the dynamic duo’s performance Ledgers said: “We didn’t really go for the glory but just wanted to bring the bacon home. That was the important thing along with Zepherinus Joseph retaining his title.”
No doubt about it, they achieved that objective in grand style.